Orthopedic procedures and prostheses are commonly utilized to repair and/or replace damaged bone and tissue in the human body. For example, a knee arthroplasty can be used to restore natural knee function by repairing damaged or diseased articular surfaces of the femur and/or tibia. An incision is made into the knee joint to expose the bones comprising the joint. Guides and other instruments are used to guide the removal of bone, for example, to form resected surfaces.
Prostheses are placed on the resected surfaces and used to replicate the articular surfaces. Knee prostheses can include a femoral implant inserted on the distal end of the femur, which articulates with a tibial implant inserted on the proximal end of a tibia to replicate the function of a healthy natural knee.
Various types of arthroplasties are known including a total knee arthroplasty (TKA), where all of the articulating compartments of the joint are repaired with prosthetic components. For a TKA it may also be necessary during the knee arthroplasty procedure to sacrifice certain ligaments of the knee joint, such as the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). In those cases, the prosthetic knee components may also be designed to simulate the behavior of the sacrificed ligament. For example, if the PCL is sacrificed, the prosthetic femoral implant and the prosthetic tibial implant may be stabilized posteriorly to resist posterior translation of the prosthetic tibial implant relative to the prosthetic femoral implant.